Travolta/Cage artwork

Travolta/Cage

126 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 47 ratings

A deep dive into the strange, fascinating careers of two of cinema's most prolific weirdos -- John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. With Nathan Rabin (Nathan Rabin's Happy Place) and Clint Worthington (Consequence, The Spool).

Society & Culture nathan rabin john travolta nicolas cage movie film action bad
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Episodes

#26: Rolling on Mandy, Smoking Silver Shamrock (with Scott Weinberg)

October 23, 2018 17:03 - 1 hour - 95.3 MB

Happy Halloween, ghouls and goblins! For our spook-tacular horror-themed episode of Happy Cast, we bring on 80s horror movie maverick Scott Weinberg (80s All Over) to take some evil, dark acid and wield overly-long chainsaws as we discuss the psychedelic Nic Cage slaughterfest Mandy! Also, we bow to the whims of our Patrons and talk about the one-off anthology horror film Halloween III - Season of the Witch, and chat a bit about which horror remakes/reboots work, and when they work, and why! ...

#25: Andrew Dice Clay vs. Julian "Dice" Black (with Greg Sestero!)

October 10, 2018 07:00 - 1 hour - 83.4 MB

Oh hai, Happy Casters! For this latest episode of Happy Cast, Nathan and Clint are thrilled to bring on Greg Sestero of The Room fame to talk Tommy Wiseau, contending with cult fame, and re-contextualizing their friendship in the form of their ambitious new collaboration Best F(r)iends! Of course, we’ve also got some bigger fish to fry - Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga team up for A Star is Born, the ultimate Oscar-bait film that’s (to our surprise) is a lot better than its auteur marketing may ...

#24: The Gary Busey Origin Story

September 25, 2018 17:55 - 1 hour - 83.9 MB

This week, Nathan and Clint are two ugly motherfuckers trying to catch some prey in an unforgiving world, as we talk about two different entries in the Predator franchise! First, we break down what Clint hated (and Nathan found not so bad) about Shane Black’s latest, messiest entry in the series. Then, we take a time warp back to the far-flung future of 1997 Los Angeles for the deeply racist, yet shockingly entertaining Predator 2! From there, we finally hash out the question that has plagued...

#23: PEGOT (EGOT Plus a Purple Heart)

September 11, 2018 16:16 - 1 hour - 75.4 MB

It’s early September, which means late-summer/early-fall stinkers at the multiplex and the anniversary of 9/11. Lucky, for you, the latest Happy Cast has both! In this episode, Nathan and Clint return from the latter’s wedding to talk about Jennifer Garner’s perplexing, unbelievably racist comeback film Peppermint, along with 1995’s Fair Game, that other adaptation of the Paula Gosling novel besides Cobra. Cindy Crawford’s in it! We also take a knee and honor 9/11 by talking about the ways it...

#22: It's-a Me, Mario Van Peebles-a!

August 28, 2018 08:00 - 1 hour - 69.8 MB

This week, Nathan and Clint follow Tracy Jordan's credo of "live every week like it's Shark Week" by talking about two toothsome shark movies - Jason Statham's cheese-fest The Meg and the film that bought Michael Caine a very nice house, Jaws: The Revenge. Along the way, we catch up to the James Gunn scandal and the bad faith actors of the alt right, answer some mailbags and recommend some pods! Put on your shark-fin hats, slap in your earbuds, and enjoy.  4:49 - Scalding Hot Takes: The Meg 2...

#21: My Phirst Phish Show (with Amy Nicholson!)

August 14, 2018 07:00 - 1 hour - 80.4 MB

This week, we get down with the swing-for-the-fences joints of Spike Lee! Film critic extraordinaire Amy Nicholson (of the podcasts The Canon and Unspooled) joins us to talk about his latest, BlacKkKlansman, and her experiences attending her first Phish show. Meantime, we go it alone to answer the clarion call of our Patrons, as we suffer through nearly two and a half hours of ham-fisted social commentary and not-so-subtle misogyny with Lee's 2004 misfire She Hate Me! (You know, the one where...

#20: New Unicorn, Who Dis?

August 01, 2018 15:45 - 1 hour - 86.9 MB

This week, we're dangling off helicopters and running at full speed, desperately trying to catch up to Tom Cruise's tiny, ageless form in Mission Impossible: Fallout. Also, we look back at a younger, Chiclet-toothed Tom Cruise as the elfen lead in Ridley Scott's Lisa Frank-esque fantasy picture Legend. Along the way, we make Mad Libs out of press releases for the band Florida Georgia Line, discuss the James Gunn outrage, and lament the impending collapse of paid culture criticism! 7:15 - Scal...

#19: Pee-Wee's Big Avengers

July 17, 2018 16:18 - 1 hour - 72.3 MB

Nathan and Clint go it alone for the latest Happy Cast, as we celebrate the Paul Ruddnaissance with a long-overdue discussion of Marvel's latest cog in the cinematic universe machine, Ant-Man and the Wasp! Plus, we talk about the mid-aughts Rudd rom-com Over Her Dead Body, discuss the superhero sequels that are actually better than their originals, and figure out which films we'd recast with the Muppets. 5:08 - Scalding Hot Takes: Ant-Man and the Wasp 24:36 - Control Nathan and Clint: Over He...

#18: Like 'Like Mike 2' As Well (with Andrew Jupin!)

July 06, 2018 08:00 - 1 hour - 86.8 MB

In our ongoing quest to talk to two out of three members of our favorite podcasts, this week's episode of Happy Cast sees us bringing on We Hate Movies superstar Andrew Jupin! Together, the three of us talk about the shockingly charming feature-length Pepsi commercial Uncle Drew, and thrill at the obviously impeccable rap stylings of Shaquille O'Neal in Kazaam.  After that, we get a little mushy with some wonderfully sentimental thoughts on movies that touched us in those squishy emotional pl...

#17: Howie Long in Fire-Whatever (with Charles Bramesco)

June 20, 2018 07:00 - 1 hour - 83.6 MB

This episode of Nathan Rabin's Happy Cast is exclusively for the kiddies, as we bring on pop culture wunderkind and friend of the show Charles Bramesco (The Guardian, Vulture, et al.) to talk about the many efforts of films both Pixar and Pixar-adjacent! First, we squeeze into some tight spandex and discuss the surprising joys of Incredibles 2; then, we curl into a collective ball and weep at the masterful Inside Out. After that we get a little more downbeat, with a curious look at the what-i...

#16: A Han, A Lando, A Canal: Panama

June 05, 2018 08:00 - 1 hour - 68.6 MB

addle up, guys and ghouls, because it's another episode of Nathan Rabin's Happy Cast! This episode, Nathan and Clint skip Solo: A Star Wars Story to talk about a smaller film with a bigger body count - Leigh Whannell's 80s-tinged cyberpunk action flick Upgrade. Don't worry, we still get some Donald Glover chat in with the cult Derrick Comedy comedy Mystery Team, while we succumb to the evil whims of our Patrons by watching the dreadful James Wan ventriloquist-dummy horror film Dead Silence. P...

#15: The Citizen's Quitting (with Dan McCoy of The Flop House!)

May 23, 2018 07:00 - 1 hour - 82.3 MB

It's time to make the chimichangas this week, as we're joined by special guest Dan McCoy of The Flop House podcast to talk the many faces of that droll mischief maker Ryan Reynolds! From his latest hit, Deadpool 2, to his cult role as cool-guy-waiter/pederast in Waiting..., our favorite Guy With a Pizza Place just won't stop the yuks! Along the way, we also dig into the glam glee of the Dino de Laurentiis-produced Flash Gordon movie from the 80s, and take that other bold truth-teller Ricky Ge...

#14: The Raccoon Wears People Clothes

May 08, 2018 08:00 - 1 hour - 76 MB

This week on Nathan Rabin's Happy Cast, we go it alone to sample from the vast buffet of superhero movies through the ages! First, we jabber about the TV season finale of movies, Marvels Avengers: Infinity War; then, we jam out to the slick 70s musical stylings and surprising emotional weight of intergalactic hangout movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2; then, you sadists make us sit through the execrable half-hearted comedy of Richard Lester's Superman III.  Not only that, we have a hard tal...

#13: Never the Dwayne Shall Meet (with Brock Wilbur!)

April 24, 2018 07:00 - 1 hour - 87.9 MB

Howdy, Happy Placers! To celebrate our six-month anniversary of Happy Cast (and the one-year anniversary of Happy Place), Nathan and Clint bring on friend and collaborator Brock Wilbur - the man who brought ethics to video game journalism himself! Together, we talk about two disastrous video game movies: the Rock-tastic disaster porn tentpole Rampage and, as per the wishes of our mighty Patrons, the 1994 high-kicking dystopia Double Dragon.  Along the way, we grill Brock about the latest happ...

#12: A Fanboy Knows a Hater (w/Josh Fruhlinger!)

April 10, 2018 07:00 - 1 hour - 109 MB

Strap on your nostalgia goggles and assemble your Funko Pops, it's another episode of Nathan Rabin's Happy Cast! This episode, Nathan and Clint peer through the rose-colored VR glasses of Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One, desperately dig deep into the fractured cult psyche of Neil Breen's Pass Thru, and try to kick the habit of the '80s anti-drug crossover cartoon Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.  Meanwhile, Josh Fruhlinger (the Comics Curmudgeon himself) joins the party to wax poetic abou...

#11: Ruth Gordon Is a Sexual Being (w/Eric Szyszka of We Hate Movies)

March 27, 2018 07:00 - 1 hour - 92.2 MB

The monkey business never stops on Nathan Rabin's Happy Cast, as Nathan and Clint go ape for the second movie where Clint Eastwood drinks with a pet orangutan, 1980's Any Which Way You Can! Along the way, we pick up a friend - We Hate Movies' Eric Szyszka - to talk about ape torture, overly sexualized Ruth Gordons, and the erotic power of a good '70s mustache.  That's not all: Nathan and Clint break down the dire direct-to-Netflix action comedy Game Over, Man!; gush over the cult 80s film tha...

#10: Apes, Trucks and Africa (w/Mike Sacks)

March 13, 2018 07:00 - 1 hour - 77.5 MB

We're going ape on Happy Cast this week, as Stinker Lets Loose! author Mike Sacks joins us for a triple feature of monkey mayhem - Clint Eastwood's cult trucker/monkey saga Every Which Way But Loose, the execrable Golan-Globus comedy Going Bananas, and a deep dive into the legacy of Stinker Lets Loose! and the nature of novelizations. But first, Nathan and Clint go on an angry deep dive into Eli Roth's angry, lazy retread of Death Wish, starring an increasingly turtle-esque Bruce Willis! 2:16...

#9: Tales from the Crypt Spook-taculer! (w/Elliott Kalan)

February 27, 2018 08:00 - 1 hour - 110 MB

Greetings, all you ghosties and ghouls! For this special pod-AGHAST of Nathan Rabin's Happy Cast, we're de-FRIGHT-ed to welcome the one and only Elliott Kalan of The Flop House, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return and The Daily Show with John Stewart! In this special hour-long segment, we bite into the bilious bag of bile that is the last three episodes of Tales from the Crypt's first season - "Only Sin Deep," "Lover Come Hack to Me," and "Collection Completed." Before that, though, Nath...

#8: Stop Trying to Be Fancy, Nicholas Sparks

February 13, 2018 08:00 - 1 hour - 70.3 MB

It's amore over on Nathan Rabin's Happy Cast, as Nathan and Clint light some candles, put on some slow jams, and suffer through some of the hokiest, most hackneyed romantic media the world has to offer!  We break down the mysterious appeal of the kink-confused Fifty Shades film franchise, show we're not 'fraid of no ghosts with the bizarre Nicholas Sparks adaptation Safe Haven, and discuss the complicated sex life of the former Mrs. Li'L Wayne, Karrine "Superhead" Steffans in her memoir, How ...

#7: The Water of the Ocean

January 30, 2018 08:00 - 1 hour - 83.2 MB

The latest episode of Nathan Rabin's Happy Cast drops today! This time around, we celebrate the highs of Peak Nicolas Cage with Mom and Dad, the lows of M. Night Shyamalan with The Last Airbender, and the no-respect doldrums of Rodney Dangerfield's kid-focused efforts ("Where's Rodney?", Rover Dangerfield). Also, we dig into just what's going on with that lovable scamp Donald Trump! Not to speak out of turn, but that rascal seems up to no good.  4:17 - Scalding Hot Takes: Mom and Dad 21:06 - ...

#6: No Respect for Old Men

January 16, 2018 08:00 - 1 hour - 68.8 MB

This week on the Cast, Clint and Nathan get through the January blues with Liam Neeson's punch-throwing insurance salesman in The Commuter, gush about the filmmaking mastery of Edgar Wright's Baby Driver, and celebrate the highs and lows of Rodney Dangerfield's career with his final film Angels with Angles and hit comedy album No Respect. Enjoy! 2:00 - Scalding Hot Takes: The Commuter 23:53 - Lukewarm Takes: Baby Driver 42:34 - Control Nathan and Clint: Angels with Angles 1:00:14 - Great Mome...

#5: Steven Seagal-berg

January 03, 2018 08:00 - 1 hour - 76.6 MB

Happy New Year! We're live in-studio once more at Clint's palatial podcast laboratory, with the ever-adorable Declan Haven Dilla Rabin as our special guest. To usher in 2018, we kvetch about everything from the toxic one-two punch of David Ayer's recent film output (Bright and Suicide Squad); reminisce about the heady days of Shia Labeouf's rise to stardom with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; celebrate Steven Seagal's bafflingly hateful alt-right screen The Way of the Shad...

#4: Saving Christmas from Kirk Cameron (w/Alonso Duralde)

December 19, 2017 08:00 - 1 hour - 83.4 MB

To usher in the Christmas season, we brought in special guest Alonso Duralde (What the Flick?!, Linoleum Knife, author of Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas) to spin some Yuletide yarns with us. This week, we ruminate on the fan blowback to The Last Jedi, trade our top ten lists for the year, discuss the curious resurgence of Rachel Dolezal, and help each other through the Noel nightmares of Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas and Pottersville. Enjoy!  3:38 - Scalding Hot Takes: Star Wars: Th...

#3: Leave Your Stupid Comments in Your Podcast!

December 05, 2017 09:00 - 1 hour - 77.9 MB

Oh hai everybody! Welcome to Episode 3 of Nathan Rabin's Happy Cast! This week, we worship at the altar of 2017's creative oddballs with The Disaster Artist and Brigsby Bear, tune our Videoboxes to the madness of Rapsittie Street Kids, and succumb to Hulkamania with Suburban Commando.  05:28 - Scalding Hot Takes: The Disaster Artist 21:10 - The Big Whoop: Depression 32:14 - This Looks Terrible: Rapsittie Street Kids - Believe in Santa 48:27 - Lukewarm Takes: Brigsby Bear 59:44 - Control Natha...

#2: Cape Punch Men for Little Babies

November 22, 2017 22:00 - 1 hour - 62.3 MB

This week, Nathan joins Clint in-studio in Chicago for a real-life in-person episode of Happy Cast! For our second episode, we moan about kids these days and their Emoji Movies, suit up for the messy Justice League, and get prehistoric with the misguided Whoopi Goldberg/dino buddy cop movie Theodore Rex. Oh, and more sexual assault allegations out of Hollywood, because men are garbage! 4:55 - Control Nathan Rabin: The Emoji Movie 21:52 - Scalding Hot Takes: Justice League 36:25 - Control Nat...

#1: This Might Totally Suck

November 09, 2017 04:30 - 1 hour - 83.8 MB

Nathan Rabin's Happy Place enters the exciting world of podcasting with an opening extravaganza featuring the following segments: 00:45 - Introductions 06:30 - The Juggalo March on Washington 28:34 - Scalding Hot Takes: Thor Ragnarok 47:22 - Harvey Weinstein/WTF is Wrong With Men? 1:02:35 - The Weird Accordion to Al 1:16:47 - Listener Mail

Twitter Mentions

@travoltacage 36 Episodes